PBIC Health and Transportation Webinar Series
The focus on the intersection between transportation and public health is increasingly important as communities plan for recovery and response amid COVID-19 and tackle more persistent health and safety issues. Emerging research to better align the two fields offers not only an expanded perspective of their connections, but also opportunities to address health issues through the lens of transportation. The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC), in partnership with many organizations, is delivering a webinar series aimed at exploring the integration of health in various transportation planning practices. Through a five-episode series, PBIC and its partners will share practices for advancing health and equity in transportation through the confrontation of power and privilege in communities, collaborative partnerships, data integration, project prioritization, and policy change. Panelists will draw from A Research Roadmap for Transportation and Public Health (National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Report 932), which synthesizes existing practice and research and proposes a plan to fund further exploration of this critical connection between transportation and health.
Part 1: Confronting Power and Privilege in Transportation Planning for Healthy and Equitable Communities
Tuesday, October 13, 1:00 - 2:30pm ET
Kicking off the series will be a diverse group of planning and public health professionals who have issued a call to action for fundamentally shifting the way we plan, build, program, advocate, and legislate for transportation in our communities to prioritize health and quality of life for everyone. As a critical first step on the path to a healthier, more equitable transportation future, planning professionals must reflect on where we have fallen short, reimagine approaches to mobility that center equity and justice, and reconstruct systems that include and lift up communities who have been excluded and harmed. Learn how panelists answer this call in their work by building and shifting power in communities.
Panelists
- Odetta MacLeish-White, TransFormation Alliance (moderator)
- Tamika Butler, Esq., Tamika L. Butler Consulting
- Vedette R. Gavin, Conservation Law Foundation
- Veronica O. Davis, Nspiregreen
Webinar Resources
- Webinar Recording
- Presentation Slides (PDF)
- Framework: Confronting Power and Privilege for Inclusive, Equitable and Healthy Communities
Part 2: Health and transportation partnerships: agency structures for collaboration /HiAP
Thursday, October 15, 3:00 - 4:30pm ET
A Health in All Policies (HiAP) framework encourages interagency collaboration on the shared goal of improving health outcomes. This webinar focuses on application of HiAP in transportation agency work, highlighting lessons learned, partnership models for forming interdisciplinary teams, structuring task forces, and how establishing mutual goals can bring diverse sets of stakeholders together to create access to healthier and more equitable transportation options.
Panelists
- Sagar Shah, American Planning Association (moderator)
- Karma E. Harris, National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, Walkability Action Institute
- Sarah Shaughnessy, Richmond City Health Department
- Ryan Dusil, North Front Rage MPO
- Katie Guthrie, City of Loveland
Webinar Resources
Part 3: Health and transportation partnerships: integrating health data into transportation planning
Thursday, October 22, 12:00 - 1:30pm ET
Around the U.S., practitioners at state, regional, and local levels have been leading efforts to integrate health metrics in transportation planning to identify and measure health outcomes resulting from transportation projects. Panelists will share experiences in building partnerships, communicating across disciplines, and linking diverse data sources to gain a more complete understanding of the impacts of transportation projects on health outcomes.
Panelists
- Ann Dellinger, Centers for Disease Control (moderator)
- Leslie Meehan, Tennessee Department of Health
- Katie Harmon, UNC Highway Safety Research Center
- Shamsi Soltani, San Francisco Department of Public Health
Webinar Resources
Part 4: Planning and prioritizing projects for health
Tuesday, October 27, 1:00 - 2:30pm ET
Transportation planning and project development present opportunities to use prioritization criteria that incorporate health considerations as well as increase collaboration between health and transportation agencies during the process. The 2020 update of Virginia's Pedestrian Safety Action Plan includes a systemic pedestrian safety analysis to identify priority corridors for improving pedestrian safety. VDOT collaborated with the state's Department of Public Health to incorporate measures from VDPH's Health Opportunities Index as a component of this analysis.
Panelists
- Sagar Shah, APA (Moderator)
- Lauren Blackburn, VHB
- Mark Cole, Virginia Department of Transportation
- Stephen Read, Virginia Department of Transportation
- Justin Crow, Virginia Department of Health
Webinar Resources
Part 5: Bringing public health to the transportation policy table
Wednesday, Oct 28, 1:00 - 2:30 pm ET
Formal policies recognizing the need to connect health and transportation agencies can ensure that common visions, understanding, and resources needed for interagency collaboration are in place. This webinar focuses on multisolving and systems work at the policy level, highlighting efforts where public health helped engage the public and advocate to elected officials to advance active travel, equity, and other health outcomes.
Panelists
- Roy Gothie, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
- Megan Wier, City of Oakland Department of Transportation
- Wendy Landman, WalkBoston
- Caron Whitaker, League of American Bicyclists
- Renee Autumn Ray, author of The Role of Transportation in Improving America's Health
Webinar Resources